JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC QUEENSLAND DRIVE
TUESDAY, 3 AUGUST 2021
SUBJECTS: Labor’s $300 vaccine incentive proposal; Scott Morrison’s failed vaccine rollout; lockdowns.
ADAM STEPHEN, HOST: Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers is with us this afternoon on ABC radio across regional Queensland thank you for joining us, Jim Chalmers.
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Thanks for having me on the show.
STEPHEN: Your package is designed to try and get those of us that are still a little hesitant off the fence a little quicker than might otherwise be the case, why do you think the carrot and not the stick is the best approach here?
CHALMERS: That is the intention, and we want to try and make sure that we can get as many people vaccinated as possible as soon as possible. We are concerned about the very low vaccination rates that we've had so far. A lot of people are doing the right thing, but many people are still reluctant and so we want to encourage them, we think this is a good way to do it. We don't think it's an either/or necessarily, with some of those other ideas that are being suggested around the place. Clearly, at some point in the future there will be issues around whether or not you can travel or whether or not you can get into venues, depending on whether or not you've been vaccinated. We don't have to do one or the other but we should be considering all these sorts of things, so we put forward an idea in good faith today, a constructive idea to provide that incentive to try and fix the vaccine rollout, but also at the same time to provide a bit of cost of living relief to families and also to support small businesses and local economies. I've spent a lot of time in regional Queensland, parts of regional Queensland are doing quite well as you know, but other parts are struggling because they rely on the Sydney market or they rely on the other markets that have been locked down. So we need to provide that support as well as so it’s an economic stimulus with a public health benefit.
STEPHEN: How much would it cost the budget because an argument could be made is that we've already spent enough money on the pandemic and we might not be able to afford an incentive program like this?
CHALMERS: If 100 per cent of eligible Australians over 16 take it up then it's something like $6 billion. If it's 80 per cent which is the government's target, then it's around $5 billion. But to put that into perspective, the government's wasted $13 billion on JobKeeper payments for companies whose profits actually went up and didn't need assistance.
STEPHEN: Did you say billion with a B?
CHALMERS: Yes. So your listeners understand this, $13 billion was handed by the Morrison government to companies whose profits actually went up during the pandemic, so they didn't need government support. So what we're saying is for a fraction of that cost, you can provide a boost to local economies, some cost of living relief for families who need it, at the same time as we get a public health benefit. So that's really good value for money and a very responsible proposal.
STEPHEN: The Prime Minister thinks that this turns into a bit of a gimmick and a game show is how he described it. He said we're not running a game show we're running a science program, and that people that are hesitant, need to be respected, we need to encourage them to have a conversation with their doctor, not try and draw them in with some kind of cash incentive which he thinks could actually backfire. Could the case be made that this is a little gimmicky and that it actually probably doesn't get that 10 to 15 per cent of the population that we want off the fence off the fence.
CHALMERS: Well first of all what could be more respectful than rewarding Australians for doing the right thing. What could be more responsible than spending a modest amount of public money on boosting the vaccine rollout, which is the key to ending lockdowns at the same time as we provide that boost to the economy. I think your listeners have got a pretty good handle on Scott Morrison by now. They know that if it's not his idea he instantly dismisses it. He did that with JobKeeper, we proposed that in the first place, the Government said it'd be dangerous. They had a change of heart and now they take credit for it. Ideally the Government would do that again. We know they dismissed it today but they should think about it before they dismiss it, and they should pick it up and run with it. We think it'd be good for the economy and good for health outcomes. What we really need to be doing here is looking for ways to fix the vaccine rollout otherwise we'll have more lockdowns for longer. If the Government thinks that the rollout is going well and the economy is going well then I think they're from another planet. People know that's not the case.
STEPHEN: Let me just run some information by you and our listeners, the Government is putting out these weekly updates of geographical areas and what the uptake of the vaccine is, and I'll run you through our listening area so the Cairns and Far North area, 39.1 per cent so just under 40 per cent of people have had their first dose of vaccine over the age of 15. The percentage of the population fully vaccinated is 21.2 per cent. That's the Far North. Central Queensland, 30.3 per cent so a significant number less than Cairns has had their first dose over the age of 15, and just 14.7 per cent are fully vaccinated. Mackay and the Whitsundays has the lowest of anywhere in our listening area at 27.1 per cent with its first dose and just 10.2 per cent fully vaccinated. I actually jumped the gun there Outback Queensland which we cover as well 26.3 per cent with one dose and 16 per cent fully vaccinated. Townsville 36.3 per cent with one dose and 19 per cent fully vaccinated. So we see a vast difference there, even within our own backyard in regional Queensland and we're being told we have to get to 80 per cent really to see restrictions, eased on mass across the country. How do we ensure that some regions aren't lagging here and that we're not turning and pointing the finger at various regions of regional Queensland in three or four months time and saying, you're holding the rest of the country up?
CHALMERS: We don't have any interest in doing that. Those numbers sound very different but they have one thing in common: they are vastly inferior to what we're seeing overseas. The national rate here in Australia is well behind what they are in comparable countries. So we need to get it up everywhere, we need to get those numbers improving everywhere. It's not in our interests to single out the bush versus the cities. There are some communities where it's extremely low, the take-up, including I suspect the community that I represent in Logan City. So we do need to be considering what can we do differently here to fix this situation. The chain here is if we don't fix vaccines, we'll have more lockdowns, and that will do more damage to the national economy and the local economies in the city and in the bush. Something needs to change here. We need to be thinking about new ways to incentivise people and that's what we're trying to do today. We're doing that in the spirit of being constructive and proposing something. If the government picks it up and runs with it, that's a good thing.
STEPHEN: Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers is with us. You said you're not averse to the idea that in some cases we might need to use the stick, not the carrot and that may be that vaccinated people are offered freedoms above and beyond what unvaccinated Australians are, do we run the risk of that turning us into two Australias? Even if there is some Australians that choose not to get the vaccine, should we be treating them as second class citizens?
CHALMERS: I think it's inevitable that there'll be some kinds of public events or whether it's travel where people will be considering whether or not they can only have vaccinated people there. I'm not coming to a final position on that but we shouldn't be ruling out other kinds of incentives just because we're proposing this one today. I think there'll be a range of things that will be contemplated. For example in the last 24 hours I've spoken to the heads of the major peak business organisations about the types of incentives that businesses are thinking about for their own workers and their own communities. That's not an either/or as well. That would be in addition to what we're proposing and so I think we need to be thinking outside the square about what can be done differently. I don't think anyone contests that the vaccine rollout numbers are far south of where we need them to be. I don't think anybody is contesting that these lockdowns are damaging for the economy. So let's find ways to address both of those things at once. We think a $300 payment on your second jab before the first of December is a good way to do it. If there are other ideas out there, let's hear them.
STEPHEN: Jim Chalmers, thank you very much for your time this afternoon.
CHALMERS: Appreciate your time. Thanks so much.
ENDS
